Brandon Keith Brown, the American conductor based in Berlin, makes his debut in South Africa in two concerts in three days with the Cape Town Philharmonic – on 23 and 26 January 2020. Soloists are the Georgian Turkish violinist Veriko Tchumburidze and German pianist Florian Uhlig.
As a pedagogical descendant of Corelli, Leopold Mozart, Wieniawski and Ysaye, through his teachers Roland and Almita Vamos, Brandon Keith Brown is particularly looking forward to working with Tchumburidze, the winner of the Wieniawski Competition in 2016.
The winner of a prestigious fellowship to study the life of Mendelssohn through the Mendelssohn Foundation in Leipzig, he has studied with Kurt Masur, and travelled all over Germany where Mendelssohn lived and worked, studying his contemporaries as well.
Brown is a man on a mission!
“I’m working towards equity for black conductors and underrepresented people of colour in classical music. I’m in discussions to create a vehicle to achieve this. In the US and many other countries, instead of masterworks on subscription concerts, blacks might appear on ethnically pigeonholed variety shows during black history month and other auxiliary programmes. This is what makes my work here with the Cape Town Philharmonic so meaningful to me. I thank you sincerely for inviting me here.”
He has a great pedigree, beginning with what he learned from the man he considers to be the greatest musical influence on his life – David Zinman.
“Zinman encapsulates the perfect conductor. Technique, ultimate musicianship, and a charisma and stage presence that entrances orchestras, audiences and composer to come sit in the hall. This includes dead composers.”
This led to being the audience favourite and laureate at the 2012 Sir George Solti International Conductors’ Competition and on to orchestras such as the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the WDR Funkhaus Orchestra to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Nürnberger Symphoniker, the Tokyo Philharmonic and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.
He moved from his native America to Berlin in 2015 after the Solti Competition. “I received offers from some of the best orchestras in Germany, including a tour. Beethoven, C.P.E. Bach, good for Mendelssohn, Wagner and other pantheons were requested. In the United States, I conducted a professional orchestra once on Martin Luther King Day during Black history month. To date, that is all I am in the US.”
Brown grew up in the US, where music was always a part of his life. “I started composing at 9. My elementary school music teacher inspired me. My parents aren’t musicians, although my mother had a wonderful, strong singing voice.
“I retired from composing at 14, focusing exclusively on the violin. I attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, who nurtured me musically. I started conducting later in undergraduate, eventually attending Aspen with David Zinman, who encouraged me to pursue the profession and do competitions.”
When asked what makes him tick, music aside he saidm, “Cultural sociology. How can we connect divergent societies through shared emotions to create acceptance and empathy? If I can sit people of all backgrounds, languages and cultures together in a concert hall, and make them experience the same feeling simultaneously—even if it’s just five minutes – this shared experience will carry them into the break, then out into the streets. Words, religion and politics aren’t needed, just sitting and feel together. The experience of concert music allows us to be seen and understood by those unlike ourselves.
“Life isn’t a meritocracy. We don’t all start from zero. Society is only as healthy as its weakest. Black people start from negative 100 and work twice as hard to achieve half as much. Most artists are white and can thus afford wilful blindness to discussing race, remaining ignorant and selfishly comfortable. I can’t afford this option.”
For more Cape Town concerts see here.
What: 14th Summer Music Festival with Cape Town Philharmonic
Who: Conductor Brandon Keith Brown with violinist Veriko Tchumburidze (Wieniawski 23 Jan 2020) and pianist Florian Uhlig (Mozart 26 January 2020)
Where: Cape Town City Hall
When: Thursday, 23 January, Sunday, 26January, 8pm
Info, book: 021 421 7695, Computicket, http://bit.ly/MagMozart http://bit.ly/WieniawskisFinest
WS
